FLASH
Shkruar nga Guido Santevecchi
Last year the dictator reminded us of his dangerousness, entering into an alliance with Vladimir Putin.
It has been a full 13 years since Kim Yong-Un inherited absolute power in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the official name of the communist regime in the North). And we still don't know what his real objective is, other than that of indefinitely extending the dynasty he has inherited.
Last year the dictator reminded us of his dangerousness, entering into an alliance with Vladimir Putin. He signed a mutual military aid pact with Russia, sending at least 10,000 Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian front to fight alongside the Russians and against the Ukrainians.
But no less disturbing was the statement, according to which there will never be peace with South Korea "because it is the first absolute enemy" and will be destroyed, even through the use of nuclear weapons.
Thus, the Marshal of Pyongyang is the man who can light the spark of the third front, the Asian one, in "a segmented world war", which Pope Francis is constantly talking about, despite the fact that he is not being heard where he should.
Kim entered the international scene with uncertain steps. Many analysts in the West bet that because of his very young age (he was 27 when his father died), he would at best be subject to the tutelage of the regime's highest echelons.
The most prominent figure was his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who for years held the post of head of the economic program. It was a linchpin for relations with the all-powerful China, and it constantly exerted pressure to undertake market reforms.
But it turned out that Kim was not a puppet in the hands of others. At the end of 2013, the uncle was arrested during a Politburo meeting, being dragged away by 2 guards. There was a trial and a summary execution. Pyongyang media wrote that Jiang had "committed heinous acts of treason, and was worse than a dog".
Through purges, real or perceived illness, or forced retirement, six other senior officials who were seen at the podium at Kim's side on the day of his father's funeral disappeared from the public scene.
Fortunately for them, and for all the developments at the heart of North Korea's ruling dome, we only know what the Propaganda Department, headed by Kim Yo-jong, Marshall's younger sister (she's 37, he's 40 years old).
Physically frail and enigmatic, Yo-jong constantly makes public gestures of subservience to her brother, such as when, wearing white gloves, she handed him the pen to sign decrees (said to be a precaution to prevent the enemy from secretly filling the pen with chemical poisons), or when you give him the ashtray to put out the cigarette.
But it is clear that behind this facade hides a powerful woman, capable of being very fierce. And it is she who issues the harshest verbal statements against the United States and South Korea. He reached his peak in 2017, when in a statement in Korean, he called Donald Trump a "crazy old man".
The brother and sister studied at a university in Bern, Switzerland, where they enrolled under false names. Classmates remember Kim as a shy, quiet boy who enjoyed basketball. Meanwhile, it is known that the sister was the favorite of her father Kim Jong-il, who called her "my sweet princess".
Such perhaps in private life, but cynical and ruthless in public appearances. She could not have been unaware of the decision to poison their half-brother, Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. On the other hand, she is also skilled in the art of diplomacy.
When North Korea decided in 2018 to begin a thawing phase with the South, it was she who went to Seoul, leading her country's Olympic team at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Meanwhile, she runs the section that selects and distributes images of his brother Marshall, and of the North Korean missile tests that occasionally frighten the world. And since 2022, a little girl appears regularly in those cases.
She is Ju-ae, the second of Kim Jong-un's 3 children. The North Korean press first introduced her as a "loved girl", then raised the rating to "respected girl". Such qualifiers in the language of the regime signal power: Kim himself is called the Honored Marshal.
Therefore, it is hypothesized that the little girl has been chosen as the next heir to the dynasty. 40-year-old Kim is visibly overweight. Based on television footage, South Korean experts say he weighs 130-135 kilograms and is only 170 centimeters tall. Also, it is said that he smokes a lot and consumes a lot of French Bordeaux wine.
When in 2020 he disappeared from the scene for 2 months, there were many rumors about his fate. It was said that he had suffered brain death. Of course an exaggerated news, but he must have health problems. So he has probably decided to pave the way to power for his little daughter, showing her between rockets and nuclear bombs.
It is certain that Kim has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons, which is the security for his own survival, the regime's survival, but also the means to threaten and possibly subjugate South Korea.
Today, after many miscalculations, Western analysts believe North Korea's Marshal is considering his biggest move to capitalize on Trump's return to the White House.
Even sending North Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian front could be part of Kim's strategy to restart dialogue with the US. Meanwhile, he has decided to sacrifice the lives of thousands of North Korean soldiers to get recognition and some rewards from his new business partner, Vladimir Putin. It is the bold bet of an indecipherable dictator./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Corriere della Sera"
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